Business News

One of the confusing things in choosing a digital camera is deciding how many mega-pixels you should look for. The answer depends on what you plan on doing with the finished pictures.

First, you need to understand what a pixel is. In terms of digital prints, a pixel simply means a dot of color that makes up the image. A mega-pixel is equal to one million pixels. The more mega-pixels a camera has, the greater the amount of information it records.

The easiest way to decide what to look for is to know what size prints you are likely to print from your camera. A one mega-pixel camera is fine for those who don’t plan on printing photos but rather just post them on the internet. A small print, say 4 x 6, will print acceptably from this camera.

A 2 mega-pixel camera will enable you to produce good quality 5 x 7 prints and fair quality 8 x 10 prints. When you reach 4 mega-pixels you can print out excellent quality 8 x 10 prints and acceptable 11 x 17 prints and a 5 mega pixel camera will allow you to print out high quality 11 x 17 prints.

Most families find a camera in the 3.2 Mega-pixel range to be the best choice. The quality of both 5 x & and 8 X 10 prints is very good yet the files on your computer are not so large you need worry about not having enough space.

Any camera over 5 mega-pixels is unnecessary for all but professionals in photography; even then, only those who have need for poster-size prints find that many mega-pixels worth the money. Most freelance photographers find 4 or 5 mega-pixels to be sufficient for excellent-quality prints.

The choice is yours. Look to what you plan on doing with your photos and then decide. In most cases spending the money for increased optical zoom and lower mega-pixels is the best choice.

Top 10 TV shows

Here are the top 10 TV shows for the week of Oct. 2 - Oct. 8. Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research. Listings include the week’s ranking, season-to-date rankings in parentheses, and the week’s viewership in millions.

1. (2) “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS, 23.77.

2. (1) “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 23.48.

3. (2) “Desperate Housewives,” ABC, 21.42.

4. (4) “Dancing with the Stars,” ABC, 17.91.

5. (6) “CSI: Miami,” CBS, 17.79.

6. (5) “NBC Sunday Night Football”: Seattle at Chicago, NBC, 16.94.

7. (14) “Survivor: Cook Islands,” CBS, 16.85.

8. (9) “Criminal Minds,” CBS, 16.54.

9. (7) “Ugly Betty,” ABC, 16.32.

10. (9) “CSI: NY,” CBS, 16.21.

Top 10 Movies

The listing is based on movie ticket sales for last weekend and total box office receipts.

1. Open Season, $23,624,548; $23,624,548, one week.

2. The Guardian, $18,006,064; $18,006,064, one week.

3. Jackass Number Two, $14,605,343; $52,070,722, two weeks.

4. School For Scoundrels, $8,602,333; $8,602,333, one week.

5. Jet Li’s Fearless, $4,983,865; $18,066,869, two weeks.

6. Gridiron Gang, $4,581,565; $33,258,307, three weeks.

7. The Illusionist, $2,735,500; $31,378,398, seven weeks.

8. Flyboys, $2,351,841; $9,946,969, two weeks.

9. The Black Dahlia, $2,129,070; $20,742,610, three weeks.

10. Little Miss Sunshine, $1,991,723; $53,133,641, 10 weeks.

CAMP SPRINGS, MD—Despite sprinting through the Andrews Air Force
Base south terminal, President Bush narrowly missed his Air Force One
flight to Boise earlier today after arriving just moments after the
plane’s doors had closed.

The 12-person crew was not able to accommodate the president due to
strict federal guidelines requiring all passengers to arrive at their
departure gate 15 minutes prior to takeoff—guidelines flight officials
say are especially important considering heightened security around the
president. When Bush inquired into the possibility of being placed on
standby for Air Force Two, the exasperated commander in chief was
informed that the flight was full and Vice President Dick Cheney was
unwilling to give up his seat.

The president was left “high and dry” at Andrews AFB today.

“I understand it’s frustrating to miss a flight,” said Air Force One
Chief Boarding Coordinator Derek Morganson, who attended a special
meeting with the president to discuss the government-funded airline’s
exchange policy. “But Mr. Bush has to understand that we are entrusted
by the White House with a very important job, and we can’t make
exceptions for one person just because it suits his schedule. No
airline would operate like that.”

Morganson was able to offer the president a standby seat on an
affiliate airline’s 3 p.m. flight to Reno, though Bush said he failed
to see “how that helps [him] in the slightest.”

After concluding a “pointless talk” with desk personnel at Gate 14,
Bush took questions in the air-base food court, where he denounced the
airline’s actions.

“This is so typical,” said Bush while eating a $9
chicken-Caesar-salad wrap. “Of course, they had all the time in the
world to check my bags and they told me I’d be all set, but all of a
sudden, I’m not allowed on the plane. Now my biggest suitcase is
halfway to who-knows-where and I’m stuck in this stupid airport. Don’t
these people ever communicate with each other?” said Bush, who refused
an offer to put him up at a nearby Radisson Hotel for the evening.

“Plus, I just remembered that my charger is in that suitcase, and
I’m down to one bar on my cell phone,” Bush continued. “How the hell am
I supposed to call Laura?”

Bush told reporters his heart sank when he saw the departure–arrival
monitor and realized that he had missed the last boarding call: “For
Christ’s sake,” the president said. “This is a nightmare.”

“I remember when Air Force One used to care about customer service. Now it’s all about their bottom line.”

President George W. Bush

Although he did not offer a specific cause for his delayed arrival
at the airport, the president mentioned rush hour and “losing the
goddamn keys again” as factors. Bush admitted he may have misjudged the
amount of time needed to pass through security, especially with
thousands of military personnel heading out on international flights.
But he maintained he had arrived at the gate while the plane was still
on the tarmac, and said it would have taken the crew “all of two
seconds” to let him board the Boeing 747-200B aircraft.

Bush, who describes himself as a “perpetual traveler” who had
exclusively used Air Force One for both work and his frequent
vacations, said he will begin looking into other carriers.

“They just lost their best customer,” said Bush after purchasing a
Robin Cook novel and settling in at Runway Café. “I remember when Air
Force One used to care about customer service. Now it’s all about their
bottom line.”

Air Force One representatives expressed regret for any inconvenience
experienced by President Bush and assured him that the many useful
comment cards he filled out will be seriously considered, even though
“Air Force One Presidential Air Transport wasn’t the one who missed his
flight.”

Bush, who is scheduled to attend tomorrow’s Governor’s Association
Luncheon in Boise, said the airline’s treatment of him was “inexcusable
and ridiculous.”

A ticket agent did eventually arrange an itinerary to get the
president to Boise, first putting him on a shuttle flight aboard Marine
One to Pittsburgh, where he will transfer to the cargo hold of a C-130
air transport delivering three Apache helicopters to Edwards Air Force
Base in California, before riding with a military-supply-truck convoy
to an undisclosed location in the Nevada desert, where he will then
accompany test pilots from Fallon Naval Air Station to the Idaho border
and pick up a rental car paid for by Air Force One.

“Not only did I miss my flight, but now I’m going to miss my
connecting motorcade to the Idaho Capitol building,” said Bush. “Yeah,
I’ll make the meeting, but I’ll bever get there in time for my keynote
address or the seafood brunch.”

http://www.theonion.com/

The new leader of al Qaeda in Iraq said in an audio message posted online yesterday that more than 4,000 foreign terrorists have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 — the first apparent acknowledgment from the insurgents about their losses.
The message also called for experts in the fields of “chemistry, physics, electronics, media and all other sciences — especially nuclear scientists and explosives experts” to join the terror group’s holy war against the West.
“We are in dire need of you,” said the man, who identified himself as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir — also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri — the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. “The field of jihad [holy war] can satisfy your scientific ambitions, and the large American bases [in Iraq] are good places to test your unconventional weapons, whether biological or dirty, as they call them.”
It was not clear why al-Masri would advertise the loss of the group’s foreign fighters, but martyrdom is revered among Islamist fundamentalists, and could be used as a recruiting tool. The Arabic word he used, “muhajer,” indicated he was speaking about foreigners who joined the insurgency in Iraq, and not coalition troops.
“The blood has been spilled in Iraq of more than 4,000 foreigners who came to fight,” the man thought to be al-Masri said on the 20-minute tape. The voice could not be independently identified.
Al-Masri also offered amnesty to Iraqis who cooperated with their country’s “occupiers,” calling on them to “return to your religion and nation” during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which Sunnis began observing in Iraq on Saturday and Shi’ites on Monday.
He urged insurgents to capture Westerners so they could be traded for the imprisoned Egyptian Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was convicted in 1995 of conspiring to blow up New York landmarks.
“I appeal to every holy warrior in the land of Iraq to exert all efforts in this holy month so that God may enable us to capture some of the Western dogs to swap them with our sheik and get him out of his dark prison,” he said.
Al-Masri, a Sunni Muslim, is believed to have succeeded Abu Musab Zarqawi, who died in a U.S. air strike north of Baghdad in June.
Meanwhile, police found 40 more bodies in Baghdad, and bombings and shootings killed at least 21 persons in a spike of violence with the onset of Ramadan.
A car bomb exploded near a restaurant in central Baghdad, killing five persons and wounding 34, police said. Although the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan is under way, some Iraqis — including Christians — are not abstaining from eating meals during daytime hours.
The violence came amid reports from a number of senior coalition military officials that a large and powerful militia run by radical Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has been breaking apart into freelance death squads and gangs — some of which are being influenced by Iran.
Sheik al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army is one of the largest and most powerful militias in Iraq, along with the Badr Brigades, which was once the military wing of Iraq’s largest Shi’ite political group — the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

http://washingtontimes.com/